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Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Samsung S8530 Wave II

When the original Samsung S8500 Wave came out in 2010, it was a pretty interesting option. With a slick Samsung created Bada OS, a 3.3-inch 800 x 480 pixel resolution Super Amoled screen screen, a Arm Cortex A8 1GHz, 2GB of internal storage, 5MP autofocus camera, 720p video recording, WiFi, 3G (HSPA), MicroSD card slot, A-GPS, Bluetooth 3.0, Micro USB slot and a host of other features, all for under Php20K

Now comes the Wave II. It has an Arm Cortex A8 1GHz, 2GB of internal storage, 5MP autofocus camera, 720p video recording, WiFi, 3G (HSPA), MicroSD card slot, A-GPS, Bluetooth 3.0, Micro USB slot and a host of other features, all for under 20K. Wait, those are the same features... Yes they are.

There is only one real difference between the new Wave II and the old Wave. The Wave II comes with a larger 3.7-inch screen, but it is not a Super Amoled screen. Yes, it does come with the newer Bada 1.2 OS, but the original Wave will also be upgradeable to Bada OS 1.2.

Priced at Php18,200 (almost the same price as the original Wave) it is not really that interesting this year. Given a choice between the new Wave II and the older Wave, I think many would pick the older Wave because of the AMOLED screen. The Wave II has to contend with lower priced Android phones, like Motorola's Milestone XT720 and the Motorola Defy.

Last year, the Wave was a bit of a risk. No App store to speak off (less than 100 Apps), but Samsung backed their Bada OS with with a Software Development Kit for Bada available to the public and Samsung initiated a Developers Challenge for Bada App developers. The winners would share the prize money totaling $2.7 million. This was a proof of Samsung’s commitment to Bada OS. Unfortunately, this did not pan out as planned. This year the Bada OS has about 3,000 Apps available to it, despite Samsung's strong backing. That is even less than the newly launched Windows Phone 7.

I think the Wave II is in for rough sailing. It is time for Samsung to just put Bada in its budget smartphones, and leave the mid-range to Android.